Correctional Operations Essay Example for Free

Correctional Operations Essay Many nations and cultures have come up with official laws to protect their citizens from crimes. Over the years these laws have been in force, to help keep society from becoming anarchy. Different forms of punishments have been used to detour would be criminals. However you will find citizens still tends to break the laws. These days all countries have a justice system and a prison for locking up their threats to society. Many countries do sentence someone to death for an extreme form of punishment. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (Encarta, 2007) was the first legal record found in the Middle East. However, the Western nations seem to follow laws started by Ancient Rome (Encarta, 2007). Before long each city had a court and had established their own laws, to protect the citizens. Soon after the Roman Empire established the Law of Twelve Tables, to confirm their society. But most people believe that the earliest form of law can be found in the twelve centuries which is known as the Justinian Code (Encarta, 2007). For many centuries people have died or been punished for committing theft, rape, or unspeakable crimes. In 1532, the Holy Roman Empire created the Constitio Criminalis to punish criminals. But not every county followed that law, so these countries created their own legal system, where each county would deal with its criminals in their countries, when they needed to. For the most part, punishment was used to punish or deter these would be criminals. Life became more civilized with each passing century, as new punishments were created. Many people felt safer with laws that could protect them. Centuries later the Pennsylvania System was created by the Quakers, Pennsylvania became the center of prison reform worldwide. This happen when William Penn, Penn who had been confined in England for his Quaker beliefs abolished the Duke of York’s several criminal code which was in effect in other parts of British North America, where among other offenses, the penalty of death was applied for murder, denying â€Å"the true God† homosexual acts and kidnapping, severe physical punishments were used for what were  considered lesser crimes. The true root of the Quaker system was to create more humane treatment for criminals, they decided that criminals needed more constructive punishment and a place where they can be alone to repent and turn back to God rather than such cruel punishment. The Quakers believe that criminals could reformed and return to society as a change people. Prisoners were put to work in the prison so that their time could be used wisely. In the 1820s the Auburn System was in full swing, this system was different from the Quakers they believe in complete silence, smaller cells and any economic advantage over the Pennsylvania System. In the long run both of these prison system failed, then came along the Auburn System which modern corrections used their old method of old cells blocks and solitary confinement. Each county began hiring sheriffs and creating legal systems to deal out the punishments. Most people welcome the new laws and sense of safety, yet some refuse to follow them. Some criminals were lightly punished and some were killed, for the crimes they committed. The justice system grew into a major part of society; however, it was not perfect. . But not long many citizens felt that the criminals deserved what punishments they received. More jails were built and more criminals began challenging the new laws that had been established by the courts. Unfortunately, societies were being victimized by the criminals or gangs or criminals. So, many new sheriffs and detective agencies were established to help police the growing neighborhoods. Many people supported the role of the sheriffs and they volunteered to help as deputies. In the old times, criminals were tortured as a form of punishment, by the Roman Empire. Some criminals hang on crosses, killed by torture, and place in dungeons to die. For this reason many began to revolt against the Roman rule and they were punished as criminals too. Soon the Roman Empire fell and many separate societies began growing throughout the world. Before long, the Modern ages began and many prisons were built in the 19th century. Many countries were ruled by the King and Queen of Britain at the turn of the 19th century. Severely changes have happened to the justice system during that time. Which made life much easier for the citizens; criminals were locked away and punished for the crimes that they committed. Each criminal had to be found guilty by the court first, before they could be  punished. Many new laws were created, in order to help the citizen feel safe and keep the peace. However, some citizens still felt that capital punishment was to hash. By the 20th century, the British rule began to fade, as the revolution grew and many fled to the New World. Due to prison overcrowding, many courts systems were looking for ways to deal with criminals. Many courts began giving probation to petty thieves and criminals; besides locking them up. Soon young offenders were removed from the adult court system and dealt with in juvenile court. Then the court began looking for ways, to rehabilitate the juvenile offenders. Many schools and programs were created, in order to stop the troubled youth from becoming adult offenders. Also many adult programs began popping up; with the intentions to help rehabilitate small crime offenders. Some criminals were able to change and become productive part of society (National Archives, 2007). Alexander Maconochie came up with the concept of early release for hard work and good behavior, also parole which was created by Sir Walter Crofton and the Irish system, which we in the United State use today. Om the late 1800s reformatory system was established, some were given education classes, and early release and punishment was not the focus. However, some adults were unable to be rehabilitating by the programs, so eventually more prisons had to be built to house youth and adult offenders that were unable to be rehabilitated. After the justice system realized that punishments were not stopping criminals from committing crimes. Many scientist and doctors began studying the behavior of criminals, especially their childhood. Some scientist has found that many criminals have had troubled childhood, which may lead to their behavior. However, some criminals are raised in a good home; yet they still commit horrible crimes to date no one has come up with a magic pill that can stop these criminals from committing crimes. Many societies have tried to find a way to stop criminals, from creating a justice system to building prisons. However, no matter how history has tried to stop the criminals, they still seem to victimize helpless people. Maybe, with further study and a better understanding of why they commit crimes, future generations can stop them. But, at this point only prisons seem to help those, who have become habitual offenders. Hopefully, one day we can create  a magic pill or a way to stop criminals from hurting others. Until then, we must let the justice system work for us and our society The correction system in the United States have changed many times over the past years, many theories went from retaliation, physical punishment, reforming and back. The population of inmates in the United States and Federal prisons and jails has grown at an unprecedented rate in the past thirty years. Since 2000, the census of prisoners being detained in state and federal prisons has risen 13%. Since 1990, the census has grown 100% the census has grown a staggering 366%. The thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was passed by the senate on April 8th, 1864 and approved by the House on January 31st, 1865 and ratified on December 6th, 1865 abolish slavery as a legal institution. The thirteenth Amendment stated.† Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place subject to their jurisdiction†. Right after the 13th Amendment was passed, the Black Code was created, the Black Code were laws in the United States after the Civil War with the effect of limiting the basic human right and civil liberties of blacks. As newly freed slaves would soon learn, freedom was not as they had anticipated. White southerners were anxious to regain power over them and used the law in order to achieve that objective, the code served as a way to control and inhibit the freedom of ex-slaves. The Code controlled almost all aspect of their lives and prohibited African Americans from the freedoms that had been won. Not only did the whites wanted to control ex-slaves but they need laborers. While things could no longer be exactly the same as in slavery, the whites found a way to guarantee that blacks would serve as their laborers. The whites encompassed some of the antebellum restrictions on free blacks, northern apprenticeship laws, they took their civil and legal rights, from marriage to the right to hold and sell property. Laws were different in each state but most embodied the same kind of restrictions. Commonly, codes compelled freedman to work. But in many states if unemployed, African American faced being arrested and charged with vagrancy. Many of those that did work had their days regulated. Codes dictated their hours of labor, duties and the behavior assigned to them as agricultural workers. Almost every aspect of their lives was regulated, including the freedom to roam; blacks were not permitted to enter towns without permission. In 1866 black codes were suspended by Federal officials who noted that the codes were too harsh and bias they decided that blacks should be subjected to the same penalties and regulations as whites. Along with the black code came the convict leasing system, this was the leasing of prisoners to private companies who would pay the state a fee for the service. Prisoners would work for these companies day after day returning to their cells each night while business profit from free prisoners labors. These black prisoners would survive less than six years; the death rate among these inmates was almost 45% for those in the south. Another way to keep free blacks in slavery was Sharecropping for those man who did not want to go to prison, sharecropping was the only way former slaves could survive . But the high prices and interest rate charged by store and land owners caused these blacks to be in constant debt. Another way blacks were kept was by chain gangs, the crimes was breach of a contract, even today there are some states that still adopt chain gangs like, Florida, Alabama and Arizona. Amnesty International one of the leading humanitarian groups said that the practice of chain gangs is inhumane, to use handcuffs, and chains etc. on prisoners is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Today prisoners have another dilemma to deal with privatization of prisons; privatization of prison is not new it has been around for centuries, private corporations are once again owning and operating prisons for profit. A controversial issue which dates back to the days that followed the Emancipation Proclamation, private prisons owners and manage prisoners making thousands of millions of dollars from prisoner’s labor while the prisoners earn nothing. The 13th amendment allows a form of slavery to exist legally, when we look at people who are jailed for nonviolent crimes within the criminal justice system, like the Black Code, Sharecropping and Chain Gangs and then privatizing of prisons the 13th Amendment shape slavery through the penal system. President Lincoln abolished the cruel and unusual punishment, but if we look there is a small part which we may call a clause that states, â€Å"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crimes whereof the party  shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, nor any place subjected to their jurisdiction†. The Amendment did not specify what crimes, felony, misdemeanor or even a traffic ticket; it just said crime and all of these are crimes. Yet we see many people not convicted of crimes and they are punished, placed in prison, locked up and work for fee. The 13th Amendment has reshaped and defined slavery the moment it was placed on paper. The 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution is a guarantee of state right. The Tenth Amendment is similar to an earlier provision of the Articles of Confederation. â€Å"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled. When the 10th Amendment was introduced in congress, James Madison explained that many states were anxious to ratify this amendment, despite critics who deemed the amendment superfluous or unnecessary. The constitution designed the federal government to be a government of limited and enumerated powers. This is saying that the federal government only has power over the things that are specifically given to it in the constitution, all other powers is given to the state. The 10th Amendment noted that â€Å"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, or by the states are reserved to the states respectively or to the people†. I believe the founding fathers created this Amendment because they did not want the central government which is the federal government to become too powerful and did not want that government to tell them how they should live their lives daily. They wanted to give the local state power to control their own affairs to make laws and rules that their people can live by and not have the federal government total control of their affair. The 10th Amendment when it comes to the Florida criminal justice system and prison is this. Advocate can bring more cases under the 10th Amendment, which will have huge positive implication for freedom so long as the current constitution of the courts holds. â€Å"Federalism secures the freedom of the individual; it allows the state to respond through the enactment of posit ive law. As we see the 10th Amendment have been weakens somewhat by the by congress, you could hardly hear about the 10th Amendment in court cases in the years it was  adopted but not so today you find that a lot of cases using the 10th Amendment for their bases for filing an appeal. There were states that were protected under the 10th Amendment. Which the American Civil was noted was not workable so the 14th Amendment was created to extend the Bill of Rights and made it applicable to both state and federal government. We can see the 10th Amendment no longer holds the power that it once did, but today in Florida law makers is trying to use the 10th Amendment to privatize prisons. The 10th Amendment was written to reassure the state that they would remain largely in charge of their people; the 10th Amendment was always used to prevent federal regulation of everything including taxation. I believe the 8th should control the criminal justice system in Florida. The Amendment states that â€Å" Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. The 8th Amendment to the Constitution established in 1791, have three provisions; The cruel and unusual punishment clause, which restrict the severity of punishments that state and federal government may impose upon someone who have been convicted of a crime. The Excessive Fine Clause limits the amount that state and federal governments may fine a person for a particular crime. Then there is the Excessive Bail Clause which restricts judicial discretion in setting bail for the release of persons accused of a criminal activity during the period following their arrest but preceding their trial. Courts are given wide latitude under the Excessive Fine Clause of the 8th Amendment, fines which is imposed by ta trial court judge or magistrate will not be overturned on appeal unless the judge or magistrate abuse his or her discretion in assessing them. But the trial court judge is given less latitude under the Excessive Bail Clause. If the defendants meets bail or is able to pay the amount set by the court, the defendant is entitled to recover the pledged amount at the conclusion of the criminal proceeding, however, if the defendant fails to appear as scheduled during the prosecution, then he or she forfeits the amount pledge and still faces further criminal penalties if convicted of the offense or offenses charged. Since most of our defendants are indigent excessive fine is handling in a calm manner I believe. To me the most critical part of the 8th Amendment is the cruel and unusual punishment. In the case Furman v. Georgia the Supreme Court found that he death penalty violated the 8th Amendment the court noted  that â€Å"These death penalties are cruel and unusual punishment† today not much state use the death penalty but in our state of Florida the death penalty is still a factor. Recently the state declared a moratorium on lethal injection and a de facto moratorium on the death penalty. Finally I believe our criminal justice has come a long way but there is still work to be done especially with defendants being arrested and being treated as the olden days when slavery was in place. We still find our slavery taking place indirectly especially for black minority’s. We need our elected government leaders to stop playing politics and start working for the people who elected them into office. Judges and lawyers need to stop taking bribes and let the justice system work for the people. We as criminal justice majors must stop looking at the money we may make when we finish school and get our degree. And see how we can put what we have learned into practice to help our fellow neighbors or our community. Our justice system needs people with heart and backbones and I believe we as the leaders of tomorrow can do that. References: http://voices.yahoo.com/roots-history-punishment-512307.html?cat=37 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-punishment/#1 http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/8th+Amendment

Business Cycle Synchronization in Latin America

Business Cycle Synchronization in Latin America Business cycles synchronization in Latin America:  A TVTPMS Approach Introduction: Over the last decades, there has been a growing interest in the business cycle transmissions among countries and interdependencies. The design of regional co-operations and integrations, such as Mercosur or Latin America countries, has the purpose to reduce poverty, amplify society welfare and enhance macroeconomic stability. However, it is crucial to understand the influence of regional integration and the role of external factors on regional business cycle synchronization. Fiess (†¦..) find that a relatively low degree of business cycle synchronization within Central America as well as between Central America and the United States. Grigoli (2009) analyzed the causation relations among business activities of the Mercosur countries to determine which cycles are dependent on others, considering trade intensity, trade structure and the influences of the EU and US as well. He find some causation relations among the South-American countries; however, the EU and US do not play a relevant role in determining the fluctuations of their cycles. Gutierrez and Gomes (†¦..) use the Beveridge-Nelson-Stock-Watson multivariate trend-cycle decomposition model to estimate a common trend and common cycle. Aiolfi et al. (2010) identify a sizeable common component in the LA countries’ business cycles, suggesting the existence of a regional cycle Caporale and Girardi (2012) show that the LA region as a whole is largely dependent on external developments and the trade channel appears to be the most important source of business cycle co-movement. They report that the business cycle of the individual LA countries appears to be influenced by country-specific, regional and external shocks in a very heterogenous way. In order to investigate the degree of synchronization of the business cycles among the six major LA economies[1] (namely, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela) as a whole, we consider the presence of a regional cycle by estimating the common growth cycle with the aim of testing its effect on each country-specific cycle. Besides this introduction, this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 contains the model and describes the data. Section 3 presents the empirical results and finally, section 4 concludes. Data and Methodology : We use quarterly data of the real GDP growth rate of the LAC countries, extracted from Penn World Table , namely †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦, covering the period from the first quarter of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ to the last quarter of †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. We focus on whether the economic activity in the LAC countries is driven by a joint business cycle. We first look at the engine of growth lies within the LA countries. We therefore firstly begin by studying the existence of a common cycle among the economies studied. Second, we attempt to find the influence of a common factor referred to as the LAC’s business cycle extracted from the estimation of a dynamic common factor model. We employ a measure of business cycles synchronization based on Hamilton’s (1989) original Markov-switching model and the time– varying Markov–switching model developed by Filardo (1994) and reconsidered recently by Kim et al. (2008) to investigate the regional common factor in dating the regional business cycles. This study analyzes whether the synchronization pattern of business cycles in a country has systematically changed with the expansion or recession phases of regional business cycle. In this context, we assumed business cycles in a particular country are driven by regional cycles proxied by the common dynamic factor in real GDP growth of the LA countries, thus we use a dynamic factor model to extract the regional cycle. The main interest of the analysis is that a latent dynamic factor drives the co-movement of a high-dimensional vector of time-series variables which is also affected by a vector of mean-zero idiosyncratic disturbances, ÃŽ µt (Stock, 2010) . The common factors are assumed to follow a first-order autoregressive process. This linear state-space model can be written as follows: (1) (2) where L1,t,†¦,Lk,t are common to all the series, ÃŽ µ and ÃŽ · are independent Gaussian white noise terms. The L matrix of factor loadings measures the instantaneous impact of the common factors on each series. There are two growth phases or regimes with a transition between them governed by a time-varying transition probability matrix. The advantage of such a model is that the regimes can be easily interpreted as regimes of recession and expansion. The estimated equation is the following[2]: , (3) where and The endogenous variable, yt (the real growth rate in a given country at time t) is assumed to visit the two states of a hidden variable, st, that follows a first-order Markov chain, over the T observations[3]. ÃŽ ¼st, ÏÆ', à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ are real coefficients to be estimated. Denoting zt the leading variable (the regional common factor at time t), we want to know whether zt causes yt+k, k= 1,2, †¦.Under the assumption that both y and z have ergodic distributions, we define the following transition probability functions: (4) where and are elements of the following transition probability matrix: (5) with Pij the probability of switching from regime j at time t − 1 to regime i at time t and i, j =1, 2 with for all i,j∈{1,2. k is a lag. In order to estimate the coefficients of equation (1), we need to maximize the log-likelihood of the unconditional density function of yt: (6) The unconditional density function is the product of the conditional density function and the unconditional probability of st. This is written as[4]: (7) Transition probabilities indicate that the states of expansion and recession are equally persistent, and this persistency is very strong. These probabilities aim to provide information about the likelihood of staying or switching from a given regime of k periods after a regime change in z. If the estimate of ÃŽ ¼1 is positive and ÃŽ ¼2 is negative, then regime 1 can be interpreted as one of expansion and regime 2 as one of contraction. Furthermore, assume that in eq. (†¦) ÃŽ ³1,2 is positive. This indicates that while any increase in leading indicator (z) increases P11, probability that y stays in regime 1, any decrease in z increases 1-P11, probability that y switches from regime 1 k periods later; that is, an expansion (recession) in z leads to an expansion (recession) in another country. Similarly, a negative ÃŽ ³1,2 means that an expansion in z leads to a recession in another country. Additionally, a negative ÃŽ ³2,2 means that any decrease (increase) in leading indicator in creases the probability of staying in regime 2 (switching from regime 2). If both ÃŽ ³1,2 and ÃŽ ³2,2 are insignificant, this would mean that there is no statistically meaningful impact of the occurrence of expansions or recessions in a leading market on the growth regime of the other markets[5]. Empirical Results Fig. 1 refers to the common factor, i.e. the regional growth cycle of the Latin America countries. As we can see, the common factor easily captures the well-known common features of the LA business cycle such as the 1994–95 Mexican crisis and the Tequila crisis. To test the hypothesis of a joint business cycle in the LA, we estimate the TVTPMS model given by Eqs. (1) and (2) with the variable z referring to the common factor (regional cycle). Fig. 1. Common factor in real GDP growth of the Latin America countries The estimation results for the regional cycle as leading variable are reported in Table 1. We find significantly positive ÃŽ ¼1 and negative ÃŽ ¼2 which correspond to a situation of distinct expansion and contraction regimes. Our main findings are based on the significance of the estimated coefficients ÃŽ ³1,2 and ÃŽ ³2,2. When looking at the significance of the coefficient ÃŽ ³1,2 , it is found that the common factor exerts direct effects on Mexico and Venezuela, implying that a high growth rate in regional cycle is informative of GDP expansion phases in these countries. That is, an expansion in common factor increases the probability that Mexico and Venezuela will continue to evolve in an expansion regime (i.e. P11). However, we see that ÃŽ ³2,2 is never significant for these countries. This suggests that the regional cycle can never be considered as a leading indicator of the future state of the cycle in Mexico and Venezuela when they are already in the contraction regime (i.e. P2 2 and P1-22). Conversely, our results show that regional cycle is sensitive to economic fluctuations in Colombia, Chile and Brazil because ÃŽ ³2,2 is significant, thereby implying that any change in regional factor does help predict whether these economies will stay into or escape from contractions. Table 1 Estimation results for the regional cycle as leading variable. The numbers in bold indicate that a high growth rate in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, and the Brail has an impact on the expansion and recession phases of the regional cycle. The evidence presented here indicates that Latin America countries’ increasing economic interdependence has strengthened both interregional business cycles synchronization. A regional cycle could provide significant informational content in predicting the future state of Mexico and Venezuela only when they are already into the expansionary state and the future state of Colombia, Chile and Mexico when they are already in the contraction regime. That is, the high level of integration reached within the region has enabled Mexico and Venezuela to emerge as a pole of economic growth where their business cycles are mutually reinforced during expansions. In other words, while this increasing economic interdependence tends to strengthen output co-movements when these countries are already in the expansionary state, the shift from contractions to recovery, opposed to Colombia, Chile and Mexico, do not depend on the recovery in other countries. For Argentina, both ÃŽ ³1,2 and ÃŽ ³2,2 is insignificant, implying any change in the regional cycle regional cycle is not sensitive to economic fluctuations in this country. Conclusion The papers other main finding is that a regional cycle could provide significant informational content in predicting the future state of the five of the largest Latin American economies—Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and Mexico. However, the amplitude and duration of the business cycle are asymmetric, indicating that nonlinearities are important in the growth process. Thus, since the Latin America countries’ business cycles are well-tied together through a regional cycle, the costs of joining a monetary union would be reduced if a deeper regional economic cooperation, including intra-exchange rate stability and macroeconomic policy coordination, before turning on to a full-fledged monetary union. Since the Latin American economies have historically been highly dependent globalization process and demand from outside trading partners it would be interesting repeating a similar exercise with interest rates and cyclical output in advanced countries. References Hamilton, J.D., 1989. A new approach to the economic analysis of nonstationary time  series and the business cycle. Econometrica 57, 357–384. Filardo, A.J., 1994. Business cycle phases and their transitional dynamics. J. Bus. Econ. Stat.  12, 299–308. [1] These countries have accounted for some 70 percent of the region’s GDP over the past half century (Maddison, 2003, pp. 134–140) [2] The lag structure has been tested with standard AIC, HQ and SC criteria. [3] The occurrence of a regime is referred by a variable st that takes two values: 1 if the observed regime is 1 and 2 if it is regime 2 [4] The lags in the model are chosen using the Akaike information criterion. Moreover, we perform the Ljung–Box (LB) test to check that there is no residual autocorrelation [5] In this case, The TVPMS model converges to the Hamilton fixed probability model

Construction Site Safety in Malaysia

Construction Site Safety in Malaysia The coverage of the construction industry is very wide-ranging; it consists of residential construction, commercial building construction, heavy engineering construction, civil engineering, industrial construction and infrastructure. Construction site is considered to be the most hazardous working place. In the construction site, safety and quality are always concerns by the people. In the recent years, construction industry is facing environmental problem due to the pollution and the hazards mostly establish by the construction activities. In Malaysia, the construction industry is acknowledge generating the country development and also improves the country economic. The frequencies of site accidents and property damage which create a great impact to the construction organization. During construction period, when happening of accidents and injuries or deaths of workers will cause delays to the construction project. The delay of the project directly and indirectly will incur the cost. As a result, all the construction organization must provide a good and safe working environment for the workers. 1.3 Background Working in the construction site is very dangerous. Most of the accidents happen in construction site are caused by lack of training, carelessness, communication problem and not following basic safety rule during working in the site.  The company need to comply with any requirements in addition to any security policy is to create them to meet federal, state and local laws. Safety policy and regulations are use to train the construction worker for safety practices and to warning about hazards on the site during construction period. Nowadays, construction site accidents became serious and known is an important to the organization involved. Most of the construction activity is difficult, dangerous, dirty, and considered as dangerous occupations compared with other type of industries. Most of the construction workers need to work in adverse conditions during rain, heat, dust, noise and at night. Some of the construction site accident happen is obvious work with the heavy machinery and scaffolding high above from the ground level. The most serious accidents happen are resulting in injuries and death. The machinery need to be seriously handle and timely monitoring as it may affect the organization in high cost to repair and maintenance the machinery. Beside that the construction company will become bad reputation and need to pay for medical treatment for the construction workers that involved in accident during construction period. When an accident happens, it should be immediate report to the office of Safety and Health department to ensure that the suitability action could be taken by the relevant organization. For the inspection also need to be taken to identify the factors which cause the accident and the way to prevent it from happen again in the future. Construction worker need to report any injuries or accidents to their supervisors or Safety and Health Department. 1.4 Problem Statement Site accident is one of the significant and key issues that seriously happen in the construction site that control its daily operation using machineries at the construction site. The numbers of site accident occurred each year at the construction site and also increasing from every year resulted in variable cost items of the project. If the construction company no way taken for prevention, it can become more serious and bad reputation to the construction company. 1.5 Aim and Objective To study the site safety in construction site during the construction period In the scope of this research, it contains the following objectives: To analysis of type of accident occurrence and causes of accident in the Malaysia construction site To study safety management and hazard in Malaysia construction site To identify the duties of various party of the site safety in construction site Research Methodology A study on site safety in Malaysia construction site To study safety management and hazard in Malaysia construction site To identify the duties of various party of the site safety in construction site To analysis of type of accident occurrence and causes of accident in the Malaysia construction site Stage 1 Literature Reviews (Secondary source) Stage 2 Technique of Data Collection (Primary source, Questionnaires) Stage 3 The Result of Analysis and Findings A case study about the fire protection system in commercial building A set of question will be distribute to the commercial buildings users to dertermine theier knowledge about fire safety An interview would be carry out to the fire safety professional Stage 4 Conclusion and Recommendation Before conducting this assignment, an appropriate method to get the information is determined. Interview We also carry out interview to achieve our research goal. This is reason because it takes place with interviewees known to have been involved on the previous experience on the site safety in construction site in Malaysia. However, it needed to focus on the interviewers that have experiences regarding the site safety. The interview will be carried out face-to-face with 1-10 consultants who having previous experiences of this site safety in construction site. The data collected of interview will be summary and comprise in appendix of my dissertation. Questionnaires The general research approach is based on questionnaires. This is chosen because it will enhance the knowledge for my research topic. The questionnaires will be given out to 1-15 respondents who are the contractor, supervisor, etc that involve in the site safety in construction site. Besides that, this is an effective alternative to interviews because it is enabling to increase the information in my research. Literature Review A literature review is a critical and in depth evaluation of previous research. The main purposes of applying literature review method in my research are to achieve my goal and to convey the knowledge and ideas have been established with regarding to my topic. The literature review serves to demonstrate and more understanding and knowledge of theoretical and research issues related to my topic. Related literature refers to writing in publication such as books, journals, magazines, articles, newspaper and finding information on the internet. Furthermore, literature review helps and guide me to discovered more knowledge and helpful in my research. Case Study Case study consists of a detailed investigation, often with data collected over a period of time, of phenomena, within the context. This method is useful for trying to test theoretical models by using them in real world situations. Basically, a case study is an in depth study of particular situation rather than a statistical survey. The case study is also useful for testing whether scientific theories and models actually work in the real world. Furthermore, I will plan and design how I am going to address the study and make sure that all collected data is relevant to my research topic which is site safety in construction site. 1.7 Scope limitation of study This study focuses on site safety in a Malaysian construction site. On the primary research, I will focus on the case study of according to my objectives which are review the history of accident and study safety management in construction site, and literature review of types of accident and hazard in construction site, duties of various party of the site safety in construction site. For my secondary research, I will do a questionnaire to TAR college SOT lecturers and Construction Company (related to site safety on construction site) in Kuala Lumpur only. The scope of this study is many types; there is literature review due to the quantity of published journals, article, textbooks and the information on the internet so that can find out the information according to my objectives within the limited time frame. Besides that, the construction company which related to site safety in construction site in Malaysia need to get permission so that can go there to visit and get the information about site safety in construction site. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction The construction site involves a lot of operations which may be dangerous, risky and unhealthy. The number of injuries, accident, and work related illness will contribute to additional costs and delays on projects. Construction site is the most dangerous and hazardous compare with other type of industry. Nowadays, site accident is keep happened in construction site and the accident percentage is kept rising every year. When accident happens in construction site it will cause the project delay and loss of project cost. In this chapter will discuss about the review accident occurrence and safety management in Malaysia construction site. Site safety is very important because when accident happen on construction site not only people injury and also will affect the project in term of cost and time. 2.2 Type of accidents occurrence in Malaysia construction site Site accident is an unplanned, unexpected and uncontrollable occurrence, which results in injury or death to the construction workers damage the equipment. All accidents, regardless of the damage or loss of the nature, should be concerned about. The accidents that not result damage to materials or equipment or injury to worker may presage future of unexpected accidents. Although site accident could not totally prevent from happening but still need to find the way to minimize the rate of accident by providing a safe working conditions and insisting on the use of safe working methods and procedures. In Malaysia, the number of accident occurring at the construction site is keep increasing every year due to the unpredictable reported. So the site accident has captured the attention and concern from the relevant organization. The table 1 show in below is the summary of major accident happen in Malaysia construction site. 2005 2006 2007 2008 1) Tower crane  broke into two  and fell onto  four  Indonesian  construction  workers at a  construction  site building  apartment  located at Batu  14, Puchong. 1) Landslide  occurred at a  construction  site located at  Taman Desa,  Kuala Lumpur  buried; killed a  35 year old  Indonesian  man at about  3.30pm while  he was  working on  some iron steel  beam  foundations  for the five block  609  units  condominium  complexes. 1) Death of two  workers and  severe injuries  on ten workers  at The Pavillion  Kuala Lumpur,  Jalan Bukit  Bintang  construction  site where the  cables of the  workmens lift  at the posh  condominium  and shopping  complex project  snapped and  plummeted 15  metres to the  ground. 1) Two  Malaysian  construction  workers  were buried  alive by  excavated  sand pile in a  3.6m-deep  sewer trench  at Taman  Merbau  phase two  construction  site in  Changlun 2) Iron mould  weighing  almost two  tonnes fell  from 20 storey  condominiums  under  construction  onto Dr. Liew  Boon Horngs  BMW; killed  him and  severely  injured his  wife and the  driver at Plaza  Damas located  along Jalan  Hartamas. 2) Negligence  of three  construction  companies, led  to the death of  another  Indonesian  worker on 15  May 2006  located at Lot  206, Section  63, Lorong  Binjai where a  32-storey of  100 units  apartment was  to be built. 2) Death of two  Malaysian  construction  workers, buried  alive four  meters deep in  a landslide  while working  on the fencing  located at  Taman Merbau  2, Fasa III at  Kubang, Pasu. 2) Twenty  five foreign  workers  escaped  without  major  injuries  when the  structure  they were  standing  gave way in  one of the  construction  sites in  Kuching. 3) Two sides  collapsed of a  bridge that  was under  construction at  3.2 kilometers  of the Klang  Valley  Highway that  caused the  death of two  Bangladesh  workers. 3) One foreign  construction  site worker  died; another  colleague  severely injured  at the  construction  site of the  prestigious KK  Times Square  commercial  complex after  piles of sand  fell on them in  Kota Kinabalu. 4) Three  Indonesian  construction  workers fell  from  scaffolding to  their deaths  when they  slipped from  the top floor of  a 21-storey  condominium  under  construction  and landed on  the fifth floor at  Taman Tampoi  Indah 5) Bricks fell  from the  construction  site in Taman  Bukit Angkasa,  Kerinchi on  several cars  parked at the  nearby flats  during a threehour  downpour 6) Eight huge  concrete beams  with a  measurement of  at least 40m  long and 70  tonnes weight  of an  uncompleted  flyover near  Nilai collapsed,  which narrowly  missed a  motorist and his  aged parents In the construction site, it can be said that there are many different types of accidents occurred at the construction sites everyday during the construction period. The types of accident in construction site, which are scaffolding, fall of people, struck by falling objects and so on. The Department of Occupational Safety and Health Ministry of Human Resources find out the rise of accident occurring almost every month in the year 2007 and 2008. Falling of people Falling of people also is the one of higher percentage happening accidents in the construction site. People working in the construction site has the risk exposed to fall in any place of the site especially at the high level. Most of the worker fall from the higher level mostly resulted in death. The type of accident is always happen in construction which is fall from scaffolding. Causes The people who falling from the higher level because lack of safety measure at the construction site. The workers will not be protected by safety measure when accident occurs. According to the Vincent G. Bush in his Safety in the Construction Industry: OSHA, an incident can result in an accident if fright makes a man take unsafe action. For an example, if one scaffold rope fails, the man may be saved if he just hangs on. The other common causes are: Improper netting for scaffolding cause workers falls from the scaffold. The used of timber ladder is in poor condition. The ladder may broken and cause the worker fall down The ladder is not securely fixed to prevent against slipping and slide movement. Inadequate lighting during construction of basement had caused many falling of construction workers. Cases Cases 1 http://cdn.theborneopost.com/newsimages/A2537.jpg Source: Borneo Post Online December 29,2011, Thursday Construction site Kuching Event The workers body injury after falling down from the scaffolding .The accident happened at around 4pm when his colleague foot support him was standing on suddenly broke, causing him fall to the ground. Consequences: A construction worker was killed. 2.2.3 Prevention For the prevention of fall of people, there are two areas that must be emphasized during construction period. The two areas are: Scaffold protection Every construction worker on a scaffold more than 2 meter above a lower level must be protected from falling to that level; workers on a walkway situated within a scaffold must be protected by the use of a personal fall arrest system or guardrail system. It is important for those workers performing plastering and painting operation for using the scaffold. The guardrail system must be installed along all open sides and end of platforms, and they must be installed completely before the scaffold use by workers. Safety net The safety net must be provided when the workplaces are more than 25 ft above the surface where the use, scaffold, catch platforms, temporary floors and so on. The safety net is required, shall not operate until the net is in place and has been tested. The safety net must extend about 8 ft outside the edge of the work. The employer should provide a safety training program for every worker who might be exposed to fall hazards. The safety training must let every worker to be familiar the hazards of falling order to minimize these hazards. So that employer must assure that every construction worker been trained. Some critical hazard areas at the high-rise building construction like lift shaft and edge of the structure must also provide with a proper guardrail system. 2.3 Struck by falling objects It can be said that the events of struck by falling objects are quite same with the fall of people. The only thing different is falling objects may not necessary cause injured or fatality. Whereas, in fall of people it definitely caused injury or fatal of people. Causes Not proper netting for the scaffolding. Some workers may not hold the tools and equipment properly during superstructure work and cause the tools and equipment fall out from the netting. Falling of scaffolding components during the erection and dismantling. Not carry the work the proper manner. For instance, the workers throw the rubbish directly from the edge of the building at the high level as shown in Appendix. Material fall during handling by the crane due to improper stacking The too heavy load to carry in the handling will cause the broken of rope, where the rope is not able to withstand the loading. Thus falling of material occur. The ropes used in the handling not securely tied are always cause the material fall during the operation. 2.3.5 Causes of Accident Accident dont just happen, they are caused. According to Ridley 99 per cent of the accident are caused by either unsafe acts or unsafe conditions or both (Ridley, 1986). As such, accidents could be prevented. The unsafe act is a violation of an accepted safe procedure which could permit the occurrence of an accident. The unsafe condition is a hazardous physical condition or circumstances which could directly permit the occurrence of an accident. Most accident results from a combination of contributing causes and one or more unsafe acts and unsafe condition. Accident theories and models discussed in the previous section have evolved from merely blaming workers, conditions, machineries into management roles and responsibilities. Nowadays, accident models are being used to better explain the causes of accident so that appropriate actions could be taken to make improvement. However, in order to effect permanent improvement, we must deal with the root causes of accident. A review of the l iterature indicates that finding the factors and causes that influence construction accidents has been the passion of many researchers. Kartam and Bouz (1998) did a study in Kuwaiti construction and noted that the causes of accidents were due to worker turnover and false acts; inadequate safety performance; improper cleaning and unusable materials; destiny; low tool maintenance; supervisory fault; and misplacing objects. Abdelhamid and Everett (2000) conducted a more comprehensive study in the USA and classified the causes into human and physical factors. Human factors were due failed to secure and warn; Failed to wear personal protective equipment (PPE); horseplay; operating equipment without authority; operating at unsafe speed; personal factor; remove safety device; serviced moving and energized equipment; took unsafe position or posture; used defective tool or equipment; and other unsafe action. While, physical factors were due to; unsafe act of another person(s); disregard know n prescribed procedures; defects of accident source; dress or apparel hazard; environmental hazard; fire hazard; hazardous arrangement; hazardous method; housekeeping hazard; improper assignment of personnel; inadequately guarded; public hazard; and other unsafe conditions. Lubega et al (2000) did a study in Uganda and concluded the causes of accidents were mainly due to lack of awareness of safety regulations; lack of enforcement of safety regulations; poor regard for safety by people involved in construction projects; engaging incompetent personnel; non-vibrant professionalism; mechanical failure of construction machinery/equipment; physical and emotional stress; and chemical impairment. Pipitsupaphol and Watanabe (2000) did a study in Thailand construction sites and classified the causes into the most influential factors i.e. unique nature of the industry; job site conditions; unsafe equipment; unsafe methods; human elements; and management factors. They further concluded that major immediate causes were due to failure to use personal protective equipment; improper loading or placement of equipment or supplies; failure to warn co-workers or to secure equipment; and improper use of equipment. Toole (2002) also did a study in the USA and suggested that the causes of accidents were due to lack of proper training; deficient enforcement of safety; safety equipment not provided; unsafe methods or sequencing; unsafe site conditions; not using provided safety equipment; poor attitude toward safety; and isolated and sudden deviation from prescribed behavior. Tam et al (2004) did a study in China and noticed that the causes of accidents were due poor safety awareness from top leaders; lack of training; poor safety awareness of project managers; reluctance to input resources for safety; reckless operation; lack of certified skill labor; poor equipment; lack of first aid measures; lack of rigorous enforcement of safety regulation; lack of organizational commitment; low education level of workers; poor safety conscientiousness of workers; lack of personal protective equipment (PPE); ineffective operation of safety regulation; lack of technical guidance; lack of strict operational pro cedures; lack of experienced project managers; shortfall of safety regulations; lack of protection in material transportation; lack of protection in material storage; lack of teamwork spirits; excessive overtime work for labor; shortage of safety management manual; lack of innovative technology; and poor information flow. 2.3.1 Accident Causation Models The accident causality model is not a new model to determine the root causes of safety problems in the construction and other industries. The accident causation model is a tool that providing better industrial accident prevention program. As described by Heinrich (1980) accident prevention is an integral program, a series of coordinate activities, directed to the control of unsafe personal performance and unsafe mechanical conditions, and based on certain knowledge, attitudes, and abilities. The famous models that were developed that relate to accident causation are namely domino theory that was invented by Heinrich in 1930 and multiple causation theory that was developed by Petersen in 1971. 2.3.4 Human Error Theories The practice of this theory is pointed out that the worker as a major factor in the accident. This theory as mentioned by Abdelhamid (2000) studies the tendency of humans to make mistake in a variety of conditions and circumstances, with the blame mostly fall on human characteristics. This theory does not mean to blame the workers as the main problem for accident, other factors such as workplace design and tasks without considering the limitation of the worker as the reason why accident happened in construction site. The objective of human error theory is to establish a good design of workplace, tasks, and tools that suitable with human limitation. The theory is that it comes to human error theory, which is a model of patterns of behavior and human factors. Most of these theories describe that the human (worker) is the main problem caused an accident happen, which is permanent feature of human and human capacity overload and human conditions that often make mistake. 2.4 Root Causes of Accident The root causes mean the main causes of accident happen in the construction site. There are some roots causes of accident happen in the construction site. The causes of accident can separate in 4 parts, which are: Peoples role Organization and management Nature of construction industry Material and Equipment 2.4.1 Peoples Role 2.4.1.1 Worker Attitude and Behaviour One of the roots causes of an accident is the poor attitude and bad behaviour of the workers which difficult to control (Teo et al., 2005). The original manual workers in the industrialization of agriculture, and reduce the risk of awareness with the construction industry. Furthermore, most of the workers are low educated. Most of them are only concern with the contract wages than importance of personal safety. This negative attitude and behaviour have stimulated most workers not to use the personal protective equipment during working on construction site. The reason of not putting their protective equipments is inconvenient for their operation. Rasmussen (1997) identified that 70%-80% of accidents happened arise from worker attitude and behaviour. 2.4.1.2 Worker Attitude and Behaviour Previous studied have pointed out that the designer play an important role in determined causation of an accident (Gibb, (1999, 2001); McKay et al., 2002; Loughborough University UMIST, 2003; Wright et al., 2003). The accident was mainly due to the widespread use of manual handling. As a result, it introduces a lot of manual handling hazards. For examples, cast in-situ method. Furthermore, the design complexity has dedicated to the causation of accident. The design complexity is referring to the intricate aesthetic qualities. Base on Loughborough University and UMIST (2003) studied, the more complexity of design tend to have a greater potential to influence accident occurrence in workplace. 2.4.2 Organization and Management 2.4.2.1 Poor Management Commitment After the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), (2009b) conducted a survey, the result shown 75% of all fatal accidents in the building and civil engineering industries in the United Kingdom are caused by the ineffective of management. Nowadays, the contractor is more reliance on the insurance, contractor tends to passed most of the damages and liability to insurance company (Lingard H, Rowlinson S, 1997). As a result, contractor may not provide appropriate training and focus on workplace safety and health issues. The workers involved in site activities may not be aware of the danger zone. In some cases, safety and health officers are threatened by their employer no to report an accident to Department Safety and Health (DOSH, 2011). Many accidents do not report because the project manager is trying to cover up their own fault and protect company image. Normally, the safety management process require site supervisor to carry out on-site inspection and prepare a number of safety and health checklist. However, many contractors only put in commitments on paper, act differently in the site (Ding et al., 2000). For examples, the OSHA 1994 personnel protective equipments record in Malaysia. 2.4.2.2 Poor Communication and Coordination In the construction site, the effective communication and information transfer between management and staff are the effective way to reduce the number of accidents. However, there are many site workers came from foreign country. Some of the workforce does not speak and understand native language. As a result, the safety committee need to convey the danger zone and potential accidents may occur on the site. Furthermore, Debrah YA, Ofori G (2001), the large number of involvement of sub-contractor, the possibility of accidents occurrence is increase as well. It is because going to increase the complexity in coordinate and control among the sub-contractor. Besides that, the main contractor may shift the safety responsibility toward sub-contractor without ensure the sub-contractor is capable to provide the safety workplace (Wilson, Kohen E, 2000). 2.4.2.3 Company Size The company size has determined the implementation of safety and health within an organization. The big company has more budget and systematic system in allocation of resources for each department. As a result, the safety and health department have sufficient resources to implement and promote the importance of safety and health at the construction site. Unfortunately, the small company has limited and lack of budgets to implement the effective safety and health approaches within the construction site (Abel Pinto et al., 2001). For examples, a small contractor company cannot afford to provide a set of standard safety equipments for every workforce. A studied by McVittie et al. (1997) indicated that accident rates decrease as the sizes of firms increase. 2.4.2.4 Poor Organization Safety Culture The contractor fails to introduce the culture of safety among the members of the organization. The safety organization chart setup due to the purposes of the law require by the government. However, the safety and health officer does not have mandatory requirement for autonomy in the workplace (Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM)). It is because some of the safety officer is employee for the contractor and developer. The researchers Diaz and Cabrera (1997) pointed out that an organizational climate is built up through the interaction of organizational factor and individual factors. Many studies had conducted (Coyle, Sleeman, Adams, 1995; Diaz and Cabrera, 1997; Felknor, 1997; Krispin, 1997; Seppala, 1992) the lower the score of a safety climate, the worst the safety performance. It is because the members within an organizational will never pay attention to the safety and health level. Beck Woolfson (1999), emphasize that it is important in control workforce beliefs, attitude and behaviours with regard to safety. As a result, poor organization safety culture is one of the roots causes lead to the occurrence of an accident. 2.4.3 Nature of Construction Industry 2.4.3.1 Economic and Time Pressure Economic and time pressure had come from the high demand in property market (Abel Pinto et al., 2001). The developer required contractor to complete a construction project within a short period of time. In order to complete the project on time, the contractors relax rules and procedure for safety and health. For example, carry out reckless operations. Furthermore, the workforce is required to work overtime. It is easy to cause the accident due to the fatigue of worker (Haslam et al., 2005). 2.4.3.2 Constantly Changing Worksite The construction industry is not same to others type industry. For the manufacture industry, the workers repeat and control the machine every day. However, construction industry involves the movement of manual workers in the workplace (Abel Pinto et al., 2009). The more movement in the site, the possibilities of accident will be keep increasing. 2.4.3.3 Site Restriction A restricted site has implied insufficient space on site. Thus, there is limited space for machine, plant and storage of building material. The restricted site will have been introduced as an unexpected persistent cause of accidents (Gibb, (1999, 2001); McKay et al., 2002; Loughborough University UMIST, 2003; Wright et al., 2003). A congested site condition not only implied of dual processing of work. However, it causes an accident as a result of a worker struck by a moving vehicle (HSE, 2009b). 2.4.3.4 Worker Specialization Every construction project is involved structural, architectural, brick wall, ME and plumbing work. Each kind of

Managing People :: essays research papers

Managing People Task One Discuss how you would approach the task initially. I would initially approach the task slowly and carefully. I would carefully read the brief for the task, underlining or highlighting the important parts of the brief that concern the jobs and roles performed by Mrs. Pane. I would also try to gather information about the tasks and roles she performed. The brief describes how Mrs. Pane performed the jobs of a Receptionist/Telephonist and also that of a personal assistant. After gathering information on these jobs I would then try to break down each different aspect of the job i.e. Receptionist- fluent in typing. After I have broke down each job aspect I could then start to write the person specification element of the assignment. To write the person specification properly I would have to decide what the aspects of the job were desirable and what aspects were essential to the job. To successfully produce my own job advertisement I would need to look at job advertisements that are already in local newspapers and local job papers. I believe that the advertisement needs to contain all relevant information on the job vacancy but must also give a brief history of the company and maybe also an indication of how the company wants to grow or expand in the future. The advert could also include the mission statement of the company. Task four I would approach by considering what companies look for in potential employees i.e. personal qualities not just purely on qualifications. All the tasks have to be looked at carefully to make sure that no law or legislation is broken. Task Four Outline how you would select a candidate from the 27 applicants, including the main elements of documentation. Before selecting a candidate, the applications would have to go through many different filtering and screening processes. I would have the applicants send their c.v’s to the company because a c.v can contain a lot more information about someone than an application form because of its limited questions. One of the first filters in my selection would be age. I believe that someone under thirty would not have the experience or the relevant knowledge to perform the job of personal assistant and receptionist. However I also believe that someone over fifty would struggle to keep on top of such a heavy workload. I believe that employing someone over fifty does not show that you are thinking long term about the future success of a company.

Leadership Study Essay -- Leadership

The ability to be a leader has been studied extensively. Throughout this extensive study, some have pointed to leadership being a born trait (Northouse, 2012) while others point to the ability to learn the skills associated with becoming a great leader (Hughes, Ginnett and Curphy, 2012). While each side has its own valid points, one way to argue either way to see these skills in action. Whether these skills are seen in a high school student government association or the office of a large nationwide non-profit, they are present. The study of leadership has led to the description of several different styles of leadership. These styles include legitimate, expert, information, connections, referent, coercion and reward power. No matter the type of experiences a person has, they will most likely see these types of power. Legitimate power may be one of the easiest forms of power to identify. Hughes and colleagues (2012) refer to legitimate power as one’s formal or official authority. This power is mostly appointed, but can be given through democratic processes (Sager, 2008). A leader who asks someone to complete a task or assigns a specific role to someone can be seen as legitimate. Local culture, as defined by the bureaucratic and chain of command within an organization, is a great way to identify who has legitimate power. A call center environment is a great example of this legitimate power hierarchy. Within one such environment the company was divided amongst several different leaders. The top of the hierarchy was the channel manager, who is held accountable to the client. Below this level are two managers who assign the task of contacting customers to those employees who make direct contact with clients. These two managers mon... ...l and the organization. Works Cited Culley, M.R. and Hughes, J. (2008). Power and public participation in a hazardous waste dispuit: A community case study, American journal of community psychology, 41, 98-114. DOI: 10.1007/s10464-007-9157-5. Hughes, R., Ginnett, R., & Curphy, G. (2012). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. (7 ed.). Montouri, Amsterdam: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Northouse, P. (2012). Leadership: Theory and practice. (6 ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publishing. Sager, J. (2008) Sources of power. In Rothman, J, Erlich, J.L. and Tropman, J.E. (Eds.), Stratgeies of community intervention (pp. 425-446). Peoesta, Iowa, Eddie Bowers publishing co. inc.. Strom, S. (9 July 2008) Funds misappropriated at 2 non-profit groups. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/us/09embezzle.html?_r=1 on May 25, 2012.

Administrator Interview Essay

For class I was to find and administrator in charge of hiring CTE teachers and find the answers to ten interview questions. I am fortunate enough to be teaching at a CTE school and was able to interview my principal. I interviewed Principal Tom Ryan, who’s the main campus principal The interview was held face to face in his office on September 28, 2012. This interview was very helpful in learning an administrator’s views and thoughts of important issues associated with CTE teachers and CTE programs. Mr. Ryan was very detailed and honest during the interview. I started the interview by asking Mr. Ryan what strengths and weakness he has seen in new CTE instructors. He thought for a moment before giving a very thought out response. See more: Ethnic groups and racism essay The strengths ; knowledge of subject content, familiarity with current pedagogy, compliant because not tenured, enthusiastic, recent employment in industry related field-familiar with real world operations, Weaknesses: uncertified –salary reduction, classroom management skills, not used to working in government bureaucracy, unrealistic expectations pertain to student enthusiasm and behavior, unfamiliar with operating procedures, typically experienced in field but not educated in effective teaching techniques and strategies. (T.  Ryan, personal communication, September 27, 2012). After reflecting upon his answer there was one point that stands out the most. I strongly agree with his thoughts that new teachers have a difficult time dealing with class management strategies. College prepares one academically for over three years but only offer a short time of practicum experience in the field. When teachers learn to effectively implement classroom management strategies and discipline they can engage students in learning activities for more than 90 percent of allocated time (Cangelosi, 1990, pp. 3-20). Mr. Ryan shared his thoughts of what skills he believed would best help newly hired teachers. Beyond subject knowledge a new teacher should be prepared to teach students life skill. Students must learn how to successfully interact with people in the work world 21st century skills. CTE teachers to become an asset for their schools must have enthusiasm, be a team player, willingness to go the extra mile, establish rapport with students and staff, and collaboration with colleagues. All of these qualities are needed in any job and are taught to our students under 1st Century Learning Skills. Next, I posed the question to Mr. Ryan if you had two applicants for a teaching position in your CTE department, what factors would you use to select any one of them and why? He responded that he would evaluate their ability to communicate, knowledge of subject matter, recent industry experience, ability to demonstrate skills, and ones perceived ability given in a 45 minute interview to fit into the educational environment –why? He simply stated, â€Å"Because these are the skills necessary to successfully teach† (T.  Ryan, personal communication, September 27, 2012). Before I could ask the next question Mr. Ryan spoke of how he perceived the purpose of CTE. We agreed that the purpose of CTE was to prepare students with entry level skills, and to expose them to current industry practices as well as to give them the soft skills 21st Century skills they will need to be successful in the work world or continuing education. One enrolls in a technical education center in order to gain employment upon graduation or move on to post-secondary education. Following the above conversation we switched gears and talked about reasons an educator would be relieved of their position. We discussed that there could be many factors that cause one to lose their job such as poor performance, layoffs due to economy, or program closures. A major factor in letting go of an employee relies on if the educator is tenured or not. Mr. Ryan stated there are three main reasons that would cause the dismissal of a certified teacher. The two he focused on was immoral or unethical behavior, and incompetence. I feel that these are fireable offensive for any job. A teacher must lead by example one should not ask others to do what they cannot Once a new instructor is hired they are assigned a mentor. A mentor’s job is to monitor the new instructors’ progress and provide feedback. This gives the instructor a forum to express the difficulties they encounter in adapting to the new work environment so that it becomes utopia. I shared that when I was first hired I found a mentor to be very helpful. When you first start teaching one has many questions that often the administrator does not have time for and/or the teacher feels uncomfortable asking. There have been many studies done that all show a well-developed mentoring program for new teachers can contribute to the quality of their practice. Moreover, many researchers state that these programs show the education system’s commitment to producing well prepared and successful teachers. Mr. Ryan spoke of the different ways that CTE programs could improve. Financing program was at the top of his list. This would allow programs obtain industry level equipment, provide proper staffing, and allow students the opportunity to participate in more internship opportunities by offering transportation. Transportation currently is the one factor preventing many students from obtaining internship positions. Financing would also provide academic support to help students gain the necessary job skills, life skills. Funding would allow for education of reading comprehension skills that will allow them to navigate new information and equip them with reasoning skills so they are able to apply critical thinking to new situations in an ever changing world. This just reiterates the fact of how important the Carl D.  Perkins Act was for CTE education. Lastly, we talked about reforms and what he would suggest for improving CTE programs and how teachers could prepare for such reforms. His biggest goal even though he thought was unlikely to occur was a shift the bureaucracy to allocating funds to actual instructional needs. Next, he felt it was important for our school to continue to strive for an instructional environment that would maximizes resources to allow all students to not be left behind.

Assignment 2: Calculating Inventory

Assignment 2: Calculating Inventory Finland Upholstery Inc. Oscar L. Galvan Argosy University The firm's selling and administrative expenses are operating expenses; therefore they are treated as Period Cost rather that Product Cost. This type of cost is unrelated to manufacturing overhead and cost of goods sold. | Manufacturing Overhead:Manufacturing overhead includes all costs of manufacturing such as indirect material, indirect labor, property taxes, maintenance and repairs, insurance etc. It excludes the direct material and direct labor.The selling and administrative expenses will not be reported in the manufacturing overhead since they are not incurred for the production of the goods. | Cost of Goods Sold:| Cost of goods sold is a cost incurred to obtain the raw material for the production and  for producing the products that are sold to the consumers. Cost of goods sold: (Beginning merchandise inventory + inventory purchases – ending inventory. ) Since the selling and a dministrative expenses are not incurred for obtaining the raw material as well as manufacturing the product they will not be reported in the cost of goods sold.Selling and Administrative Expenses: The selling and administrative expenses are incurred for delivering the goods to the consumers, and also for the advertising of the products. The following are examples; management expenses, salesman salaries, clerical expenses and advertisement expenses. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1. Calculate the company’s predetermined overhead application rate. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Budgeted Overhead| 5,460,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Budgeted Direct Labor| 4,200,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Predetermined Overhead Rate| 130%| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. Calculate the additions to the work-in-process inventory account for the direct material used, direct labor and m anufacturing overhead. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Direct Material used| 5,600,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Direct Labor| 4,350,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Manufacturing overhead| 5,655,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total Addition| 15,605,000| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | . Calculate the finished-goods inventory for the 12/31/01 balance sheet. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Direct material cost| 156,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Direct labor| 85,000 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Manufacturing overhead | 110,500 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Finished goods inventory| 351,500 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |All amounts in the Work-in-Process must be transferred to Finished-Goods-Inventory due to the fact that there is no Work-in-Process at year end. Therefore:| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dr. | Cr. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Finished goods inventory| 5,811,800|   | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Work in process Inventory|   | 5,811,800| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 4. Calculate the over-applied/under-applied overhead at year end| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Applied overhead | 5,655,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Actual overhead| 5,554,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Over-applied overhead| 101,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Calculation of Actual Overhead:| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Indirect materials used | 65,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Indirect labor | 2,860,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Factory depreciation | 1,740,000. 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Factory insurance | 59,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Factory utilities | 830,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Total | 5,554,000. 0 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dr. | Cr. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Manufacturing Overhead| $5,554,000|   | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cost of Goods Sold|   | $5,554,000| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5.Explain if it is appropriate to include selling and administrative expenses in the cost of goods sold category. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Company’s cost of goods sold totals $15,309,300| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Finished-goods inventory, Jan 1| 0. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Add: Cost of goods manufactured| 15,761,800. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cost of goods available for sale| $15,761,800. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Less: Finished-goods inventory, Dec. 1| 351,500. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Unadjusted cost of goods sold| 15,410,300. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Less: Over applied overhead| 1 01,000. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cost of goods sold| $15,309,300. 00 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The firm's selling and administrative expenses are operating expenses; therefore they are treated as Period Cost rather that Product Cost. This type of cost is unrelated to manufacturing overhead and cost of goods sold. |